media

Today I woke up with a wonderful feeling of calm and warmth towards the world. I can see the blue sky through my window, and the warm embrace from my duvet. I am relaxed and happy. With no specific plans, I put on an audiobook, drink some water and try to plan my day. But before doing anything, I want to share an article by the New York Times. It describes how a tourist agency has opened their telephone lines in a very creative way. I have always liked Sweden. They are forward-thinking and open to new ideas. And they are a social bunch, happy to connect with others. This article is a brilliant example of how we easily can connect with people. I would love something similar approaches to connect with others: Having an open telephone line where you get connected to a random person all over the world, just to talk and learn something new.

Tourists and a copy of a Viking ship in Stockholm.CreditSven Nackstrand/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Margareta Marza, a 28-year-old marketer in Stockholm, was reading a book on Thursday evening when she received my call.

Until she told me, I had no idea who she was. And she didn’t know who I was — or which number, country or time zone I was calling from. But that was the fun part.

To gin up interest in the country, a Swedish tourism agency created the Swedish Number, 46-771-793-336, a single phone line that connects international callers to randomly selected Swedish volunteers to chat about whatever is on their minds.

When I called the number and was connected to Ms. Marza, she said she had been driven to participate out of curiosity and for the chance to have pleasant, serendipitous chats.

“It’s amazing how you are in New York and I am here,” she said. “It makes the world seem smaller.”

The Swedish Number’s website invites callers to “talk about anything you want.” After I dialed the number (callers from the United States should dial 011 first; international rates apply), an automated voice responded: “Calling Sweden. You will soon be connected to a random Swede, somewhere in Sweden.”

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In one case, that was Arvid HedenGynna, 28, a biology student in Uppsala. He chatted with a man in Texas who explained that no, not everyone in the state wore a cowboy hat.

Michael Kazarnowicz, 38, who works at a communications agency in Stockholm, said he had fielded calls from a Greek who claimed to be bankrupt and in need of money, a birthday girl in Kazakhstan and a chef in Siberia.

By letting everyday Swedes communicate directly with foreigners, tourism officials hope to present a more authentic picture of the country than one conjured up by a marketing agency, said Magnus Ling, the secretary general and chief executive of the Swedish Tourist Association. As of Thursday evening, about 3,000 Swedes, many of whom had heard about the number through the local news media, had downloaded a mobile app that would put them on a list to talk with strangers for the next two months.

Yes, Mr. Ling acknowledged, the chats could go off the rails. But he had little fear of lewd, meanspirited or even dangerous correspondence — he believes that people have good intentions, he said. And he believes the Swedish people will make good ambassadors for the country.

“It’s no worse than when we travel abroad and two people meet and talk about Sweden,” he said.

Sweden is no stranger to relying on its people to tell its story. The country has a Twitter account, @Sweden, and it is staffed by a different resident each week, who is given full freedom to write Twitter posts about virtually whatever he or she likes on behalf of the nation of about 9.5 million people.

About 7,500 calls had been placed to the Swedish Number as of Thursday afternoon, with the most coming from Turkey and the United States. Mr. Ling said several of the people he had spoken to from the United States were especially curious to get his take on the presidential race (typical Americans, making it all about us). Other Swedes I spoke to were eager to battle stereotypes (no, they aren’t all blond).

Hugo Gefors, a 21-year-old mechanical engineering student in Kalmar, said his call from the Swedish Number had interrupted his studying for a test on Friday, but he had been looking forward to the distraction. After 10 minutes of friendly chatter, including discussion of meatballs — “They are generally not made like the ones you eat at Ikea,” he said — it was time to return to his studies.

Psychological research has had a tendency to study negative effects of behavior both on the individual and cultural level. But new research has started to focus more on the positive aspects of behavior. I like this shift, as I think it will change how we interact with the world. In one TED talk I watched, scientists were studying genetic superhumans. That is, people with genetic ‘flaws’ that has proven to give these people abilities normal people don’t have. By getting more knowledge about these ‘superhumans’ we are also a step closer to knowing which environmental, psychological and biological factors contribute to their genetic make-up.

Mass suggestion

Humans in a big crowd have an inclination to behave the same way. It is difficult to resist the force of it. This is why people, who ordinarily are sensible, can do things that they regret afterwards . It is also the reason people who normally are harmless can become violent.

If I could do a study as a researcher, I would want to look at how positive mass-suggestion could affect us . Let’s for fun’s sake call it a social media experiment. If every person shared the research hypothesis I’m about to present with one person, it would be interesting to see what would happen next.

My hypothesis would be something like: Can we by mass-suggestion, make people around the world do the same thing on the same day?

For example I could propose that the 30th of september, every one of us tried to do one random act of kindness. What do you think would happen? Could it affect us all in a positive way?

The date could be set one year in advance to make sure that many get the message, but as information can spread like fire in the right circumstances maybe it would not be necessary to wait that long.

So, would somebody be interested in an experiment like that? What can each and all of us do by simply being kind towards others?

I am a psychologist working as a trauma therapist in Norway.
I am blogging about my life and psychology-related topics. I am also working on a book about my life and work, that will be published this year.
Thank you all for visiting my blog.